


A Smile, Just for Me

by Nezanie



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, i wanted to write angst instead i wrote cute fluff and healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21649525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nezanie/pseuds/Nezanie
Summary: For the first time in her life, Hilda felt she was having a taste of her own medicine with a pretty innocent dose of Marianne. And in all her life she never wanted to see anybody smile at her more than she did Marianne. So trying a little hard was not so bad if she could see that smile again.
Relationships: Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril
Kudos: 46





	A Smile, Just for Me

Her father - her very doting father - always said first impressions counted the most, they pretty much imprinted the idea of a person’s character at first glance.   
Hilda pretty much grew to believe he was quite right (though he meant to make her steer clear of less than noble gentleman) and she had a keen eye to see who was pushover enough to give her what she wanted. The way the young noblemen - or ladies - and scamps around her saw Hilda pretty much allowed her to wrap them around her little finger and make them do all her chores.   
Minor exceptions did exist, Setheth seemed intent on getting her back on the right tract even if Hilda wasn’t quite certain if he was onto her or not, he did nag a bit too much for her taste.   
Mercedes had been too much trouble, kindly and even more of a busybody than Hilda had imagined she had felt quite guilty when the girl went over and above in performing her gardening duty. That time it hadn’t really been her intention to trick her, she just mixed one day with another and Mercedes did offer.  
It all came back to bite her in the butt, conscience too heavy to ignore so that was a lesson well learned. She wondered if it was Annette’s influence, if there was someone who was Hilda’s total opposite that had to be that extra stressed, bubbly ginger. Reluctantly, Hilda began taking on her own chores a little more seriously. At least when she couldn’t find someone that she knew could be handled.

Hilda yawned lazily inspecting her manicure, she needed to adjust a little here and there back to perfection once she got to her room,her thoughts went back to that day and she wondered if perhaps mature women were her one weakness.  
‘At least, mature like women seem to be...immune to my charm,’ Hilda corrected herself, snickering at the memory of the flustered Marianne and the dusty cloud coming from the books surrounding Hilda on the ground. The old, ancient and the falling apart kind that had just to be put back in their place had ended up nearly taking Hilda to the otherworld with them.   
That day had been quite a hassle and her first impression of Marianne drowned in a lake of her own tears. Hilda winced, perhaps she had not quite broken off that particular habit as well as she thought. 

Everything her father told her about first impressions didn’t seem to apply with the girl. Hilda had seen her in class, at the very back of it, huddled in a corner. A pretty, tidy, and annoyingly tall classmate (though she hunched so much to stay out of sight Hilda didn’t need to crack her neck bone to talk to her), Marianne seemed to be the definition of the elegant noblewoman archetype. Hilda would even venture to call her a natural beauty if she wasn’t so ...haggard. Bags under her eyes, flinching at any word sent her way, Hilda had decided Marianne must have been the sheltered type.

“Where is she anyway?” she muttered, looking up and around the nearly vacant dining hall. She’d pretty much made Marianne promise to spend lunch with her after class and it was getting a bit late. Half of the break was already gone and they’d end up having dinner soon.   
Worried, she found herself moving towards Sylvain, the guy who knew where all the cute girls where at. It was easy to spot him since most students had been trickling out of the room to tend to their afternoon duties or classes. Most of all she couldn;t think of anybody else surrounded by a group of giggly girls. He’d pretty much promised Byleth to ditch the Blue Lions if she just asked, the new prof wasn’t very impressed. And here he was gallavanting with others of the fairer sex.

Before she could even open her mouth, he pointed towards the door, “Stables, she’s always there, why do you need to ask.”   
Marianne had run off so fast when class had been dismissed she’d forgotten to tell her where she was. Hilda had figured but she didn’t need a search around the monastery if wrong.

Crossing her arms over her chest Sylvain staggered at her glare. “Sheesh, she gave me the same displeased look when I tried to woo her…”   
Hilda seemed cross at his comment raising a brow at the words so he quickly waved her off, “H-hey it was around two moons ago, she didn’t seem into it so I stopped obviously, I’m not a monster,”

Hilda rolled her eyes, threw a quick thanks without really meaning it and waddled through his fanclub purposefully with a wave of her own she was off before he tried anymore of his flirty excuses. He wasn’t a bad guy, a kindred spirits of sorts in the way he lived life as freely as he could but Hilda didn’t quite like the idea of having him bother Marianne. She didn’t like that any bother that happened to Marianne actually. 

The kitchen was her first stop, picking up a little basket from the helpers who seemed to think she was up to her usual antics. With her luck, she managed to pick the kitchen aide who never really liked her or any of the pampered nobility.

The mousey thing shook her head, clicking her tongues, “Since when do you pick your own snacks, thought your boy toys where there to take care of your every whim,”

The head didn’t seem to like her attitude smacking the woman across her head and ordering her back to work.

Hilda rolled her eyes and ignored them, snatching the snacks out of their care and was out of the dining hall in milliseconds taking the steps two at a time. Her mind was now back on the task at hand but what the woman said had gotten a little under her skin. This was really not like her at all.

‘Ugh, it’s none of my business, I’m just checking on her because we were supposed to meet up,’ she formulated an explanation for all this running around she was doing anyway.   
Marianne probably forgot their promise since she was quite scatterbrained. How could Hilda just ignore that, she was a little too keen on lazing around, perhaps her character geared towards the sly side but she wasn’t inhumane. And honestly, she loved Marianne’s rare, wonder of the world smile, it made her expression less strained and you could see just how lovely Marianne was.   
Ever since Hilda wondered if one day she could hear her laugh gleefully, she couldn’t take the thought out of her mind. One way or another she’d become overly affectionate to the girl and sort of kept an eye on her without meaning to.

‘How did I lose to somebody else’s charms?’ she stopped for a second leaning into the wall and enjoying the coolness against her forehead. When she caught her breath she took off again.  
Hilda had to admit it, even if she tried to keep her emotions in check, she wanted to see Marianne and genuinely enjoyed her company. It didn’t matter how many chores she’d have to do because the girl had no clue whatsoever on being actually being organised.   
It sort of dawned on her, running off to fetch a girl that could forget to eat and shrink away if not reminded, that the pure, proper Marianne just heavily dealt Hilda a big dose of her own medicine.   
Hilda came to a stop by the stable and nearly snorted but that would have been unbecoming. She didn’t manage to smack her hand in front of her mouth in time to stop the giggle. Ah well, nobody was around to see her anyway.

“You’re looking better today, Dorte. That nasty arrow wound finally healed up,” Marianne spoke sweetly. Hilda eyes nearly bulged out of her head seeing how comfortable and relaxed the girl seemed as she peeked inside. That was new and it made her feel all jittery inside, Hilda wasn’t sure if it was a good sensation overall. It was a little bit frustrating that Marianne seemed more at ease with a horse. Hilda never liked to lose.

Knocking on the barn door, she felt an odd smugness seeing her jump a little. She wasn’t going for revenge per se but Hilda would relent her scolding since she gave Marianne a little of a scare, unintentionally of course. Dorte was supposed to be back in his stable by now so she could always help.   
There was still that tiny twinge of sadness Hilda felt whenever she went a little overboard and made Mairanne revert to her turtle in a shell mode. It was difficult to get her back out into the open if she was too frightened. Hilda was a little too used to it, carefully taking the next steps towards the pair she tried to appear as small as possible. Which wasn’t difficult, she was always tilting her head a little up lately. It was a little victory that Marianne wasn’t hiding from her anymore.

“Hiya my little scatterbrained friend,” she sang watching Marianne relax just before noticing Hilda’s scowl upon uttering the words, “you missed lunch,” 

Marianne stood straight up obviously disconcerted that she had made trouble for hilda. She played with her fingers nervously, sometimes she’d absently looked around for a way out too whilst fiddling. Hilda needed to just wait to see her she was pretty caught in finding a way to channel both moves in the same split second. It was pretty comedic.

“I...er...that is, I was on my way and...Dorte...he,” she pointed to the horse who breathed softly as if to encourage her.

Hilda raised a hand and pulled the basket of delicacies from behind her back. “I’ve got your back thankfully, you can tell me about it while you eat minute bites and mumble about not feeling hungry.” Angling her finger she poked Marianne’s nose before letting her hand fall on her hip, “Which I don't believe so spare me and nibble on, I won’t budge,”

It wasn’t the first time they’d eaten in the stables, Marianne loved the animals and the little critters all flocked to her like some magical forest princess. She almost seemed to understand animal speech - which was not exactly the case, Marianne admitted she sorta felt what they wanted like an actual sixth sense - there was a rumour that she had told been responsible for making sure the monastery dogs stopped chasing the cats and birds for fun. 

“You could come closer, we’ve known each other for, what now? Six months.” Hilda muttered, her chin smudged onto the hand she was leaning on. They’d found a nice sunny spot just outside after making sure Dorte was happily fed and Hilda found a clean looking spot sitting on some bundles of hay. They’d put the basket on one as a makeshift table.   
Dorte followed them apparently not in a mood to laze in his stable, neighing at Marianne clearly wanting her attention.

Six months flew by so fast! Before that they had a glimpse of each other at noble’s gatherings once or twice but somehow Marianne would vanish into thin air after being introduced. Marianne barely spoke to her (or anybody for that matter) in such events. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, just like always. Hilda purposefully ignored it, there was no need for apologies and she’d told Marianne a number of times. It was less stressful for both to let her get used to not saying it than always pointing it out. 

“I know! Maybe you can think of me as one of your horse friends if it makes you feel better,” she said, an incomprehensible sentence she’d uttered that made her realise something important. She was jealous of a goddess dang horse. Sothis help her!

Marianne’s hands stilled - one with her buttered bread and the other going through Dorte’s mane. Her head shot up as she stared at the horse’s back with a confused look and her lips twitched into a semblance of a smile. With a semblance giggle she tried to hide by smacking her face into the horse’s shoulder, her amusement got the better of her and her shoulders shook with the effort to stay quiet. 

Hilda bloated a cheek, in jest and a little disappointment to not hearing a laugh, looking up from where she was sitting, she grumbled, “I am sorta serious,”

“Well, you’re pretty Hilda, you’d make a beautiful mare but that’s not quite...your animal I think,” she replied bemused by the prospect of a magically transformed animalesque Hilda. 

Hilda seemed to like the direction where this was going. An actual conversation with Marianne were both sides contributed? That didn’t happen often, Marianne liked to listen and rarely indulged in small talk. That was a nice change of pace, so she offered a little prod to keep her going, “Mmm? Really?”

“Yes, you remind me of the foxes back home,” she pointed out, tilting her head to eye Hilda, “Fluffy, smart and ...kinda flighty when things get rough,”

“I prefer to call that particular tactic a strategic retreat, Marianne dear,” she raised an index finger up with a self satisfied grin, “A fox huh? It is really elegant, I’m flattered.”   
Foxes were pretty clever so she didn’t mind the bad reputation they had, the less they trusted Hilda with tasks, the more free time she’d have to loiter.

Marianne smiled softly bumping the side of her head against Dorte’s shoulder. The horse’s tail flickered happily, almost as if Marianne’s touch was the greatest present he could receive in his all his equestrian years.  
Hilda munched slowly on her own lunch lost in thought. “You’d probably be a cute bird, maybe? Or some kind of canine? You’re not calm enough to be a turtle, you can be a bit slow, only because you seem so distracted,”

“Really?” Marianne crouched taking another small bite, she seemed not to be following.

“You’re all over the place, even though you think you’re no good so it’s gotta be something active,” Hilda tapped her chin, licking her lips from the cream of a pastry, “Oh I got it, a lone wolf always running off from her companions! Brave in battle, shyest little thing when it comes to social relations! Softest, kindest, ball of sweetness ever!”   
To Hilda Marianne was a bit of a contradiction after all.

“Actually wolves are very family oriented animals,” Marianne corrected without missing a beat. Hilda’s face fell from her enthusiastic chant and she sighed.

“Then you have some work to do on your wolf impression!” she proclaimed, frowning when Marianne started to move from one side to another. Her shoes made a scratching sound against the earth. ‘She’s fidgety again’

“Oh-kay,” she replied, getting to her feet with obvious tension that made Hilda squint. She marched straight to Hilda and plopped down next to her in the makeshift seats. “That’s nice of you to say,”

“Ohhhhhh,” Hilda sang stomping her feet in excitement and laughing as Maranne blushed. It only made her companion squeal louder, “Oh my goddess Marianne, even your ears are turning pink!”   
She threw her hands around her and squeezed her, watching out for any signs of discomfort. Marianne had never been a touchy type, she did let Hilda get away with a little though. Perks were meant to be exploited and Hilda always tried to see how far her ditzy classmate was comfortable with. She didn’t seem that adverse to the contact today except her cheeks got even hotter as they brushed against Hilda’s own.

“It’s...I’m trying to make an effort here Hilda! Really!” she whined softly. Dorte paced to her side sniffing at her ear. She caressed his nose gently, easing him a little away from them.   
‘It’s okay, it's alright, I’m alright,’ she assured the concerned creature until it trotted away.

Hilda patted her back, “I know, and I’m so proud, baby steps are fine. At least you’re not gloomily telling me you’re nothing but trouble.”

“I’m not?” Marianne quirked a brow definitely not believing her. Hilda squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. That had been close.

“Hey, nope, not at all. Will continue saying that until you don’t need to hear it,” Hilda shrugged meaning every word, “And even if you do give me some work to juggle, you’re the good kind of trouble even I’d eat up. Heck, I feel as strong as 100 men when I’m working with you!”   
She flexed her arms showing off a little even under the long sleeves of her uniform their training was showing its effect. Or rather, for Hilda who skipped all that, the axe swinging did. She always had a little more strength than the average woman ...or nobleman too.

“I thought you said I wasn’t trouble,” Marianne pursed her lips before sighing, “ But I think I get it, I sort of feel the same,”   
She finished the last bites of her sandwich letting Hilda wait enough that she started wobbling a leg in anticipation before Mariannbe chose to continue, “I sort of feel lighter when I’m with you, as if I’m not this mess of a woman,”  
“Oh Marianne,” she whispered genuinely touched and swallowed her lecture as worry crept into her. It wasn’t easy to get her to confide, she wasn’t gonna scare Marianne out of doing it.

Marianne leaned against her shoulder closing her eyes, “I feel so at peace when I’m with you Hilda, I like being with you a lot.” She let out a content poof of a breath.

Hilda nearly choked on some vegetables barely managing to swallow the food without any adversity beyond taking burning gulps of air. Peering at the fair Marianne who was being uncharacteristically affectionate and noted she was dozing off fast.   
‘She must have had those nightmares again,’ she thought recalling some noise from the room next to her own in the night. She had hoped it wasn’t the case but it would explain why she was being extra forgetful today.

“Guess sleep deprived Marianne when she relaxes it cutely cuddly,” Hilda groaned trying to rub the heat off her face and let her fingers go to her temple. She couldn’t exactly move the hand Mariane was leaning against. She was probably grinning like fools and acting like one. Progress! Yay! Maybe it wouldn’t be so farfetched the idea of confessing.

“Yeah, maybe, but I need this goof awake to do that,” Hilda whined into her hand hoping to hide her frustration as well. Her ulterior motives would have to wait, besides, Marianne needed someone to push her along for now. The added weight of a relationship might be too much for the girl to picture right now.   
Moving Marianne gently, somehow Hilda managed to get her head onto her lap and let the girl sleep. If they were having a picnic in the proper gardens at Garreg Mach it would be so romantic. Many had tea time in the place and it always left them with a sense of fulfillment.The barn before them wasn’t exactly exuding the type of atmosphere that would make Hilda feel in the mood. 

“Guess we’re playing hooky, I’m sure the professor won’t mind that much,” she wondered if she should find an excuse nonetheless. She’d used half her repertoire already and Byleth never seemed quite convinced instead giving her a more difficult task each time. She wondered how the professor could read her so easily. 

Hilda absently played with a strand of loose hair, tucking it behind Marianne’s ear. She smiled down at how the girl subconsciously was crumpling into a fetal position on the touch. She’d have to remember that.   
“At least she’s resting, maybe we can get rid of those black, scary looking dark circles hmm?” she could try asking Dedue or Ashe, they were pretty knowledgeable on plants. Maybe there was an herb that helped keep away the bad kind of dreams.

Unbeknownst to Hilda, Marianne heaved a sigh in her dream. She seldom had a good night’s sleep, the nightmares were creative or perhaps it was her mind tricking her? It made up all sorts of horrible dreams that made her fear even falling asleep. Sometimes she’d read well past what was appropriate and she’d become used to being exhausted. She’d also become plenty able to tell when she dozed off, it always started out the same. She’d remember it once the dream started even though she knew once woken up there would be no memory of the thing, nought except for the cold sweat and lingering fear.

It always started with a blanket of darkness, no matter where she looked, her eyes did not perceive anything as if the light had been sucked out of existence. Her ears on the other hand would be on the receiving end to echoes of cruel, cutting words that made a rumbling around the space she was in. It made her feel claustrophobic, her ears felt like they would burst and fall off with all the ringing no matter how hard she held them. There was nowhere to run but her legs wouldn’t listen to the futility of the action and she’d try to find somewhere safe to hide.  
Sometimes she’d notice she had been walking towards her parents, her birth parents, she’d try to reach out every time only for her mother’s hand to melt away.   
Other times Marianne would find herself surrounded by the people who had loved using her as a scapegoat, gossipping, jeering, pointing their fingers. The most frightening was the grotesque creature with a dagger like horn for a nose that would eye down at her, smiling, calling her his own flesh and blood. She didn’t want to think about what he could mean.

Today, it seemed the grotesque creature would pay her a visit. The hot breath from his ferocious looking snout scalded at her knees. His yellow, putrid looking set of fangs showing in a mockery of a grin, “How you grow day by day, how long till you lose yourself to my blood?”  
Marianne trembled at his feet like always, she didn’t reply, she prayed for the goddess to end it. If not to let her out of this miserable scene, to have her awaken as fast as possible, the need for rest be damned. 

And then something unexpected happened, a light flashed through the fog illuminating areas in front of her feet. It was closely followed by another until it broke through the darkness surrounding them. Marianne gasped in awe as she curiously raised her head and saw the scenery, the green luster forest of her former hometown, the one she was born in.

The creature growled furiously lunging at her, Marianne stepped back only to flinch as the wind picked up by her ear. The monster dissipated into a smoke as the axe lodged comically into his snout.

“Well, that guy was ugly as sin,” a voice said from behind her causing her to jump. A hand reached out to entwine with her own, “Now that he’s gone we can finally settle down for our picnic, right?”

Marianne gaped with a slight tilt of her head she looked down into Hilda’s beaming face, she raised a hand grabbing the skin of her hero’s arm between a finger and her thumb.

“Ow, what was that for!?” Hilda slapped the hand away playfully, her frown was quickly replaced with a smile and she pulled Mariane along towards a blanket and a giant, bulging picnic basket, “Come on, the food won’t eat itself,”

And just as she pointed towards the formerly empty meadow in front of them, Marianne blinked at the magic of it all as she noted the basket was actually filled with all kinds of her favorite food. Marianne didn’t know what was going on and didn’t care, for the first time in years, there was a warmth that spread all along her body from tip to tip. And she was sure it was all thanks to Hilda’s radiance, it made her feel it wouldn’t be so bad to try a little harder.

“You...saved me?” she laughed wondering if it was alright to take back her wish to end the dream for just a little longer. Without any of her earlier shyness in the stables, she said,“Thank you.” One day, she hoped she’d be able to tell the real Hilda too just as easily as the dreamland allowed her to. The dream Hilda scoffed in a very Hilda-like manner shoving a bowl of fruit in her hand instead.

For the dozing Hilda who was still at Garreg Mach, she had been nearly off to dreamland herself when she felt Marianne toss. Looking down she saw the girl had turned to face her stomach and her face was scrunched up. She didn’t seem very comfortable anymore and Hilda’s drowsiness was kicked out with a dash of panic that made her freeze.

“Oh, wow she’s really sweating,” Hilda murmured placing a hand on her brow, it felt a little hot even though she didn’t think it was the sickly kind of heat. A whimper made her heart squeeze and Hilda held her trembling shoulder in a vain attempt to pacify her, ‘So she still has nightmares, I should’ve guessed,’  
Marianne wasn’t the type to ask for help, so she’d never come to Hilda willingly on her own. It didn’t mean she couldn’t, Hilda had made it clear the first time she’d barged into her room after she heard Marianne scream, waking up from a particularly bloodcurdling kind of memory reenactment in her slumber.

Hilda had a feeling she should wake her but it felt like it would only result in Marianne not being able to get any rest. 

“I..I’m so sorry, I’m sorry,” Marianne cried grabbing a fistfull of cloth as Hilda bit her lip in thought.  
Hilda acted on impulse, bowed down trying to hug the girl, pulling her against her body as much as she could in their position. She didn’t know anything beyond what she saw when it came to Marianne. Hilda never pried but she wanted to know more there was no denying that. She wanted to be trusted enough for her to come to Hilda and ask for support.

She didn’t want to wait until Marianne was ready and at the same time she knew that was the best for Marianne so righteously that was what she would do. It didn’t mean Hilda was about to look the other way.

‘If she doesn’t calm down I’ll wake her,’ she decided, rubbing her back soothingly just like her own mother used to when she was a shivering child awoken in the dead of the night by cruel, imagined monsters. 

“It’s alright,” Hilda spoke without really knowing if Marianne would hear her, it was worth a shot, the girl seemed to instinctively push herself into Hilda so it was possible it was working, “I’m right here for you, I’ll do anything to make it alright, it’s okay!”

Hilda closed her eyes praying, something she was never particularly fond of. Anything that could help her to do the right thing was welcome. Somehow the writhing under her settled down, and the short panicked breaths started to become longer, calmer.  
Hilda popped her eyes open in hope. Marianne’s expression softened to a more serene one and Hilda blinked looking away and feeling the grin she was wearing against her own fingers. Was she blushing? God’s her face felt hot. She bit down the urge to squeal happy that her idea worked and she got to see something nice.

“Now that’s foul play,” she murmured slipping down to plant a kiss against Marianne’s soft pallid cheek. Realising what she had done she quickly looked up and around her, no one was in sight. Letting out a breath of relief she remembered the other students all had their own duties or lessons to attend to after all. They were the only ones playing hooky.

‘How are you so troublesome when you don’t mean to?’ Not that she minded. Hilda stretched her neck and arms until she felt her back crack satisfyingly. Looking down to see her sleeping beauty had not been disturbed she poked Marianne’s cheek, the girl’s smile faded a little and she murmured something in her sleep as she snuggled into Hilda’s lap. Hilda pressed her lips into the palms of her hands trying hard not to laugh, “ Aw, since you’re so cute I’ll let this one slide,”

Marianne smiled sleepily up at Hilda who savored the sight wondering what was possibly making her so giddy in her sleep. Her one wish was that this expression would be someday reserved just for her, and Hilda had in mind to get what she wanted just like always. ‘It’s strange, I don’t mind working hard if I get to be with you. Just this one time,’

....

‘Oy! Oooooooy!!!’  
Hilda groggily opened her eyes realising her head had been tilted, she groaned in pain as her neck muscle tensed at the movement. They’d lodged in place and as her eyes focused she found herself leaning against the hay they had settled near for the late lunch..

Claude’s smug smile came into vision and he tapped the side of his chin with a chuckle and obviously a goud aimed for Hilda. “You, uh, you got a little something right here,”

Hilda stopped glaring to touch the spot and made a disgusted face, wiping the saliva on the handkerchief she retrieved from her pocket. Marianne didn’t budge from on top of her, breathing in as Hilda moved her tired legs a little. They had gotten a little numb,goddess forbid she’d wake Marianne up for something like making sure her circulation was doing fine.

“Oh, that’s a surprise,” Lysithea crouched down appearing from behind Claude all of a sudden.

Hilda leaned down covering Marianne’s face from view as nonchalantly as possible. Lysithea took no offense staring at her pointedly before deciding to gently run her fingers against Marianne’s hair.

“She seemed tired this morning, it’s good that she’s sleeping a bit,” she said smirking knowingly at Hilda’s attempt to feign innocence. Hilda narrowed her eyes and looked away. This was so unlike her, not having control over the situation.

“Can you tell her I was looking for her? I found this really good book and I wanted her opinion on it!” Lysithea said, getting back up on her feet, “Oh and I’ll lend you my notes for class later okay?” Grabbing Claude’s arm she sighed as if she had been sorely inconvenienced, “Come on, let's leave these two love birds Claude,”

“Hey come on! I was gonna ask Ignatz to paint us a picture of this blessed occasion,” he cooed having the time of his life.

Hilda picked the paper wrapping of their sandwich, turned it into ammo and carefully aiming it at Claude’s head. “Don’t you start mister!”

Claude hopped from one foot to another all giddy dodging easily, “You look so cute though, hanging onto one another, look she’d even gripping your shirt,” 

Sure enough, Marianne’s hand was still holding onto Hilda’s clothes with a mighty tight grip. Hilda moved to tap the hand and smiled down as Marianne grumbled something and repositioned.

“Just to let you know,” Claude continued, ignoring how Hilda raised her head to give him the stink eye, “I made up a pretty good excuse for why you missed class, so you won’t need to attend any remedy classes, you owe me your dessert for at least a week,”

“Ugh, fine,” Hilda growled, waving him off. Instead of arguing, she turned to Lysithea who was kind enough to lend a helping hand without strings attached rather than just tease and ask for praise. “Thanks, Lys, we’ll need those notes, we’ll come by later just…”  
She motioned down at the sleeping Marianne and the pair gave each other knowing looks seeing how sweetly Hilda was gazing at the girl.

“We’ll see you later then,” Claude clapped his hands and trotted away, waving goodbye as Lysithea bowed to them before leaving together with him.

Hilda sighed happily, wondering if she should wake Marianne now. If classes were done, it would soon be time for dinner. 

Tilting her head to get a better look at the slumbering face of her crush she opted to give her a few more minutes. Marianne looked so snuggly she didn’t want to disturb her. Hilda thought a few more minutes couldn’t hurt and she didn’t mind staring at Marianne’s expression until she could fully commit it to memory. 

‘I sound like a creepy, lovesick fool,’ she shook her head bumping it against the hay. She was smiling down at Marianne again before she knew it.

Her hand pressed gently against the side of Maranne’s head, patting her hair amiably. Marianne moved, rising against the palm of her hand for a second. A small laugh escaped her lips and she smiled so fondly it took Hilda by surprise, she’d only ever witnessed those small, awkward smiles before.

“Hilda, thank you,” she mumbled, giggling softly. Hilda nearly choked in shock, feeling her face growing very, very hot. She couldn’t help but snicker at the coincidence.

“One day, maybe,” Hilda whispered, giving her the best hug she could muster in the awkward position, happy to see Marianne sigh pleasantly into it, “just maybe, you’ll smile like that to the real me too. I’ll be looking forward to it, okay?,”


End file.
